Middle East

Iranian factory workers have resumed a blockade of the country’s main north-south railway line as part of a protest against labor conditions in a western Iranian city. Iranian social media users said the workers of the HEPCO industrial complex in Arak blocked the railway line that runs along its perimeter …

WASHINGTON — The Syrian government denied on Monday it had entered an agreement with Islamic State to evacuate the last of the militant group’s fighters from one last area of resistance in southern Damascus. Syrian state media denied it had reached a deal with IS militants, and declared that its …

The Saudi Arabian activist who helped start a women’s right-to-drive campaign in the kingdom said she is receiving death threats now that the driving ban is about to be lifted. Manal al-Sharif was jailed in 2011 after she uploaded a video of herself driving in Saudi Arabia, the only country …

AL UDEID AIR BASE, QATAR — With its wall-sized screens simultaneously showing America’s air wars in Iraq, Syria and Afghanistan, this war room at the heart of America’s biggest military campaigns is already something of a technological marvel. “It’s state of the art but too slow for the future,” said …

AMMAN, JORDAN — Jordan held local elections Tuesday in a move that officials said would help devolve some powers to larger cities and underdeveloped rural regions, but that critics said fell short of promised wider political reform. The countrywide municipal vote — the first since 2013 — was a stated …

ISTANBUL — In a rare visit, the head of Iran’s armed forces is in Turkey. The two neighbors have found themselves increasing rivals in Iraq and Syria, but both sides are trying to find common ground. The chief of staff of the Iranian armed forces, Major General Mohammad-Hossein Baqeri, arrived …

LONDON/DUBAI — Islamic State is seeking to radicalize disaffected ethnic minorities in majority Shi’ite Iran to encourage attacks intended to avenge Tehran’s offensive against the group across the Middle East. Sunni Islamic State, in decline in Iraq and Syria, claimed responsibility for an unprecedented attack on June 7 in which …

Iranian President Hassan Rouhani said Tuesday his country prefers abiding by the 2015 international agreement on its nuclear program, but that if the United States continues “threats and sanctions” then Iran could quickly revitalize its nuclear activity to an even higher level than before the deal went into effect. Speaking …

DUBAI, UNITED ARAB EMIRATES — An unarmed Iranian drone shadowed a U.S. aircraft carrier at night and came close enough to F-18 fighter jets to put the lives of American pilots at risk, the Navy said Tuesday, reporting the second such tense encounter within a week. The Iranian Sadegh drone …

ISTANBUL — Turkey’s main opposition Republican People’s Party (CHP) is voicing alarm its leader Kemal Kilicdaroglu could face prosecution and jail in an ongoing crackdown in Turkey, which has seen more than a dozen parliament deputies jailed. “There is a big plot against the CHP,” warned Bulent Tezcan in an …